I won't say I love dogs, I'm more a cat person.
But I don't hate them either (well... except maybe those little yapping beasts.... who - maybe - think they are big dogs ... who knows... <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> ?).

When I was much younger, I acted as mailman (summer's job). On my daily tour, there were many houses with dogs.
One of those, a german shepard, didn't act very friendly from the beginning. each day, it became worse, upgrading from barking to growling, each day coming nearer and more hostile. Hopefully, its owner was present and she kept it at bay, always saying "don't worry, my dog is not dangerous..."..
One day, she didn't respond my ringing right away, but the dog did. And it just run to me. I just had time to put my big leather satchel in front of me... and the poor satchel got bitten, instead of my arm. From that day on, that woman got her mail delivered on the post of her fence, no longer at her door.
At another house, there was another big dog who always barked furiously each time it saw me approching in the street. Only during the last days of my job, did I found it was in fact happy to see me, and just wanted to be stroked. We had a few good moments after that, it was really a nice doggy !

An aunt of mine love animals and always had pet dogs.
Among others , she once had a german shepard, very friendly, used to play with her young kid (I don't exactly rememeber, he must have been somewhere between 5 and 10 yo - not the dog; my nephew...). But one day, as both the dog and my nephew were alone playing behind the house, the dog bit him at the face, ripping off a good piece of cheek. I guess the kid did make something so the dog reacted, but I don't know what.

IMO the fact is dogs ARE UNPREDICTABLE... even for those who think they know them.

Here in France, as far as I know, dogs are to be under control of their owners and should not be allowed to roam freely in the streets (except if the municipality edited a special regulation saying the opposite).
Now, what exactly means "to be under control", that's more vague.. At first, I thought it meant they have to be on leash, but it's not written so in the laws/regulations. I guess the owner must be able to restrain his dog, be it on leash or not...
Most of the time, when there is an accident, it's the owner's fault : not enough attention given to what his dog is doing (he is not "controlling" his dog), bad education - both the owner and the dog ....

When I see big dogs running (almost) freely, a long way from being under control from a distant, inattentive master, I just think about gun related safety rules at the range :
it's not enough that you know your gun is empty and thus not dangerous, you won't let it laying around or point it in any direction ; you have to "control" it, i.e. handle it correctly without pointing it to people, plus, you have to clearly show others it is safe (empty opened cylinder, slide open, magazine removed and so on...).

I think a similar set of safety rules should exist for dog owners. Letting a big dog running barking to other people in the street is the same as waving a pistol, apparently ready to fire. I feel threatened and even with a well meaning, playfull dog, my attitude can then convoy a threat and the dog's attitude can in turn change to a really menacing one....
Then I will get hurt, the dog will get hurt, and that *$?%** owner is the only guilty one.

I would be curious to have statistics from insurance companies, on how many people are accidentaly injured by firearms and how many are dogs' victims...


ooopsss... may be I should have put some 'rant on/off' tags.... <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />